Unalaska, AK – The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will take final action on a Chinook bycatch policy for the pollock fishery next month. Among the potential action plans is a hard cap limit. That means that if the pollock fishery catches a certain number of Chinook, or king salmon, then the fishery would close even if the fleet had not yet met the quota. The policy is meant to protect Chinook salmon stocks that pass through the Bering Sea on their way to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Bristol Bay, and beyond. But some, like Mayor Shirley Marquardt and the city of Unalaska, argue that it will hurt regions dependent on pollock without helping the king salmon returns.

"From my perspective, the city's primary unhappiness with some of the hard caps is that they are set extremely low and the scientific information is not really that that backs up the fact that it's all coming from the pollock fleet," Mayor Marquardt said.

Marquardt, who is also employed by the At-Sea Processors Association, an industry group, notes that according the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on bycatch, half of the fish caught as bycatch by the pollock fleet are from Russian stock. Additionally, the pollock fleet is trying new methods of avoiding the salmon. She says she doesn't think the science backs up the necessity of the policy and that hard caps could have dire effects on communities like Unalaska and Akutan.

"So the idea of setting a budget a year in advance for the city to provide services and programs and then right in the middle of that budget cycle maybe being told 'Oops, you've just lost half of your revenue!' What on Earth do you do? How do you plan for that?"

She says that it would make planning for long term projects, like the new small boat harbor, and necessary programs, like road maintenance, difficult.

The mayor and city council member Katherine McGlashan will travel to the Council meeting on March 30 to testify on behalf of the city. The council plans on listening to public testimony and reviewing the matter for more than 4 days before coming to a final decision. The public comment period is closed but people who did not comment can testify at the meeting.

The mayor and councilmember McGlashan's travel was the only issue discussed at last night's abbreviated council meeting because there was not a quorum. Last minute travel can be discussed without a majority of the council being there. Other issues, like water and landfill rates, will be discussed at the March 31st meeting.